Health-care in a jiffy at a growing number of retail clinics

One-stop shopping has taken on new meaning for customers of the Acme supermarket just off the Black Horse Pike in Audubon. They can now add medical treatment to their grocery list.

Prominently in the front of the Camden County supermarket is a recently opened clinic, staffed by a nurse-practitioner, that provides treatment for minor ailments, such as sore throats, fevers, flu, ear aches, and colds.

"This is a good tool to use," said Brian Seeley, a Voorhees family physician who occasionally sees patients at the clinic. "This is for convenience. This isn't for any chronic condition."

The venture, a collaboration between Kennedy Health and clinic operator FastCare, is a first for both: It marks the entry of Green Bay, Wis.-based Bellin Health FastCare into New Jersey, and it is the first such clinic staffed by Kennedy.

Clinics have been popping up inside retail stores around the country. Many are inside pharmacies, such as CVS, which is the largest operator, and Walgreens.

Nationwide, there are more than 1,600 retail clinics, and more are planned, according to the Convenient Care Association.

They offer affordable and convenient service to patients, reducing the need for expensive emergency-room visits for routine treatment.

New Jersey has 43 retail clinics operating or expected to open this year, while Pennsylvania has 359.

Both states have also seen an expansion of urgent care clinics, which provide a more extensive menu of medical services and testing.

"It's a quick in and out. You don't have to make an appointment. You can walk in and get these services," said Gary Terrinoni, Kennedy Health executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The Kennedy FastCare clinic at the Acme in Audubon, operated by Kennedy Health Alliance, opened in July. It has two exam rooms and is staffed by a nurse-practitioner and occasionally by a family care physician affiliated with Kennedy, such as Seeley.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Joe Miller, 31, of Marlton, checked in at the clinic, complaining of back pain. It was his second visit in recent weeks.

"It's convenient. Every second matters," he said. "It works out great." Miller has insurance and a regular primary-care physician but did not want to wait another day.

For nurse-practitioner Michael Zielinski, Miller was the first patient of the day. Among others he treated later were a patient with a rash, another with high blood pressure, and one with a urinary tract infection.

Had they gone to the emergency room, "we would have been there all day," said Miller's wife, Melissa, who accompanied him to the clinic with their 15-month-old son, Jacksen.

The clinic accepts walk-in patients only and most insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid. Office-visit co-pays apply. Except Christmas Day, it is open year-round and has evening and weekend hours - filling a void when most doctors offices are closed.

The Audubon location was selected partly because 60,000 baby boomers and millennials live within a 12-mile radius, Terrinoni said.

It is also close to two Kennedy hospital campuses: Cherry Hill and Stratford are only seven miles away in either direction.

If a patient needs treatment beyond what can be handled at the clinic, a referral is made or the patient is sent to an emergency room for immediate care.

Prescriptions can be filled on-site at the Acme pharmacy or sent to the patient's preferred pharmacy. Retailers hope that patients will linger to shop at the store.

"This concept increases accessibility to health care at a low, set cost - adding value for our customers and today's busy families," Audubon Acme store manager Mike Ciocco said.

Audubon's is the first Acme market in New Jersey to open a retail clinic, said Dain Rusk, a spokesman for Albertson-Safeway, the parent company. A second clinic may be added in Camden or Gloucester Counties, he said.

"It is clearly a strategy of ours. We believe we are a very good fit," Rusk said.

The company has clinics in stores in Chicago, Phoenix, Montana, Texas, and California.

Among those operating retail clinics locally is Virtua Health System, which runs them at CVS stores in Marlton, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, Runnemede, Sewell, and Cherry Hill.

Walgreens operates Take Care clinics in Deptford, Haddon Township, and Williamstown.

Complete Care Health Network runs clinics at Shop-Rites in Bridgeton, Vineland, and Rio Grande.

Cooper Health System ceased operating a clinic at the Shop-Rite in Marlton and is focused on stand-alone urgent care centers, staffed by board-certified emergency physicians and offering higher-level services, in Cherry Hill, Audubon, and Sicklerville, a spokeswoman said.

Experts attribute the rapid growth of retail clinics in part to the Affordable Care Act, which has enabled more people to be insured and to seek routine care even as aging baby boomers have increased pressure on primary care physicians.

A 2014 study in Hospitals & Health Network, a publication of the American Hospital Association, found that the average wait time to see a primary care doctor in the Philadelphia region is three weeks.

But the American Academy of Family Physicians has warned that growing use of the clinics might result in a "missed opportunity to address more complex patient needs."

Also, the clinics generally are located in the suburbs rather than in urban areas such as Camden that have a shortage of health-care providers, according to a study conducted for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation by Allan Baumgarten, a health-care market analyst.

In Cherry Hill, there are Minute Clinics in two CVS stores, the study found. In Camden, the state's poorest city, there are no such clinics.